Gang tried to sell millionaire's £750,000 bungalow after stealing his identity by hijacking his mail and forging his passports to transfer the deeds - and were only stopped when the victim noticed his house was listed on Rightmove

Fraudsters tried to steal a house worth £750,000 by intercepting their victim's mail to hijack their identity but were caught out when the millionaire's daughter saw the house being advertised on Rightmove.

Saeed Ghani, 30, from Manchester, stole mail from Minh To, 62, and tried to sell his half a million pound home in Cheshire after transferring the deeds of the property into his name.

The plot was foiled, however, when supermarket mogul Mr To's daughter noticed the address was advertised for sale on the property website and alerted police.

He worked with accomplices Atif Mahmood, 42, and Toma Ramanauskaite, 30, on scams with Mahmood jailed for two years and two months and Ramanauskaite facing sentencing next month.

In June 2012, Ghani (left) and co-defendant Atif Mahmood (right), 42, conspired to steal identity documents from an insecure post box in the Stockport area

In August 2014 Ghani and Toma Ramanauskaite, 30, pictured, intercepted a husband and wife's post in Salford and hijacked their identities. She will be sentenced next month

A couple's pension worth nearly £90,000 was also stolen in the identity scam.

In June 2012, Ghani and co-defendant Mahmood conspired to steal identity documents from an insecure post box in the Stockport area.

They used the stolen mail to hijack the identity of Mr To and then carried out the plan to sell the property from under their noses.

Ghani also stole the identities of two homeowners in Bolton by using fraudulent passports in a bid to transfer the Land Registry deeds of their property, valued at more than £300,000.

Finally, in August 2014, Ghani and Ramanauskaite intercepted a husband and wife's post in Boothstown, Salford, and again hijacked their identities, said police.

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They took out driving licences in their names which were then used as identification to open new bank accounts.

They then approached the pension company to successfully transfer almost £90,000.

Ghani was jailed at Preston Crown Court for seven and a half years after he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to three counts of conspiracy to defraud.

Mahmood, from Gorton, was jailed for two years and two months after he too admitted at an earlier hearing to conspiracy to defraud.

Ramanauskaite, from Bury, pleaded guilty to the same charge and will be sentenced next month.

Minh To, 62, pictured, alerted police to the scam after his daughter saw the family home being advertised on Rightmove

Mr To, pictured with German shepherd dog Shaya, made his fortune running a successful chain of supermarkets

Detective Sergeant Phil Larratt, from Greater Manchester Police's Fraud Team, said: 'In all three cases Ghani worked with an associate to hijack people's identities by stealing their mail.

'Unfortunately in the final case, Ghani along with Ramanauskaite were again able to successfully hijack further identities to steal a couple's pension.

'Today's verdict will hopefully send out a message to fraudsters in Greater Manchester that people will receive significant sentences for these types of crimes.

'As this case demonstrates, fraudsters can use your identity details to open new bank accounts, request new driving licences and even try and steal your own home. We urge the public to secure their mail boxes and employ measures to protect their identities.'